Global Impact Of Illiteracy

According to the United Nations, “the acquisition of basic skills such as reading and writing [has] been considered an inalienable human right” (Rodriguez and Rodriguez 5). Without those skills, a person is defined as illiterate. However, the definition of illiteracy is more complex than simply being unable to read or write at all. While the internationally accepted definition of “illiterate” does in fact mean a person who lacks those skills completely, a newer concept of “functional illiteracy,” in which a person may have basic reading and writing skills but be unable to use them in a way that allows them to function socially or economically, has come to been seen as equally important (Rodriguez and Rodriguez 17). Unfortunately, although literacy is essential for people to lead a fulfilling life in modern society, many people around the world and even in the United States lack functional literacy skills. Therefore, an important challenge for the global society is to find ways to solve this problem.
Illiteracy tends to be an intergenerational problem and can be caused by the inability of …show more content…
For example, because literacy is an important aspect of becoming educated politically, societies with significant illiterate populations also tend to suffer from a lack of democracy and meaningful political participation by the public (Rodriguez and Rodriguez 8). Similarly, because literacy enables people to be taught concepts about health and hygiene, societies with high levels of illiteracy have greater risk for the spread of communicable diseases (Gupta and Kumar 282). Some studies have found a direct correlation between literacy rates and life expectancy (Messias